Home Pickling of Fish
UPDATED BY SUZANNE DRIESSEN, FOOD SAFETY EDUCATOR, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION
EDITED BY ELIZABETH WHITE, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SEA GRANT INSTITUTE
As applied to fish, pickling generally means a fish product
that has been processed with vinegar as an ingredient in the
curing process. If this is the first time you have tried pickling
at home, you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is—
and what a delight a freshly pickled fish is to eat.
The size, fat content and flesh of herring make them
especially well-suited for pickling, and they are the most
common kind of pickled fish sold commercially.
Other commercially pickled seafood include
salmon, haddock, oysters, sardines, eels,
shrimp and clams—but such products are
usually sold only as specialty items in small
local or ethnic markets.
While the kinds of fish pickled commercially
are limited, any fish can be pickled. Northern
pike is perhaps one of the best game fish
for pickling. Suckers are very good, and
even carp are tasty when pickled. The type
of fish you use matters only in chunk-style
pickling, in which case you should use only
thin-skinned, small-boned varieties of fish.
If you want to make a herring-type pickled
product with other types of fish, various
characteristics of the product will be different. Home-pickled fish may not have the
same taste or “mouth feel” as that sold
commercially. It may be firmer, drier or have a different color
or taste. You may like it more or less then commercially
pickled fish—the point is that you shouldn’t expect it to be
exactly the same.
Main Ingredients
FISH
It is best to use high-quality frozen fish to ensure that any
parasites in the fish are destroyed. If you freeze it yourself,
keep it frozen for at least four days. Commercially frozen fish
may be thawed and used right away.
Also, the type of fish used will affect the texture and color of
the final pickled product. Fish species differ in bone size and
skeletal structure, flesh color or pigmentation, fat content,
the location of fat in the tissues, muscle size, length of
muscle and the quantity of muscle.
HOME PICKLING OF FISH
WATER
Good quality (drinking) water should be used to make all
brine and spice mixtures. Avoid using “hard” water—
especially water high in iron, calcium or magnesium. The
presence of these metals in the pickling solution may
cause bitter flavors in the pickled fish. If you must use hard
water, treat your brine by boiling, cooling and then filtering
it through several layers of filter paper, such as
coffee filters, to remove any precipitate that
forms before using it for pickling.
VINEGAR
Use commercially distilled (white) vinegar
that is clear, without foreign odors or flavor,
and has a guaranteed acetic acid content
of at least five percent. The use of vinegar
(acetic acid) at the recommended levels will
help prevent bacterial growth in the final
product. Cider or other fruit vinegars may
be used to pickle fish, but the acid content
of fruit vinegars is more variable than white
vinegar, and fruit flavors and pigments in
these vinegars may give the final pickled
fish product an off-flavor and color.
SALT
Use only pure, high-grade granulated
pickling or canning salt. The salt used in
pickling fish should have low concentrations
of calcium, iron and magnesium because, as mentioned
above, the presence of these ions may cause bitter flavors
as well as undesirable color changes in the pickled fish. For
similar reasons, do not use sea salt, iodized salt or regular
table salt.
SUGAR
Table (cane or beet) sugar is recommended as the sweetening ingredient in the pickling solution. You may substitute
corn syrup for some of the sugar, but be aware that it may
add a slight corn flavor and that the sweetness level is
more difficult to control. If corn syrup is used, you will have
to experiment with the quantity necessary to achieve the
desired effect and flavor.
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1. Preparing the Fish
2. Brining the Fish
FILLET STYLE
Any species of fish can be used for this type of pickling.
Again, the quality of the raw fish used is a very important
factor: use only fish of good quality.
Use a container made of plastic, glass or some other material
not affected by salt. Don’t use metal containers—salt is
corrosive and reacts with various metals.
For each 5 pounds of fish dissolve 21/2 cups of pickling or
canning salt in 1 gallon of water. Place the prepared raw fish
in the brine and refrigerate for 12-24 hours. Then rinse the
brined fish in cold water and cover with undiluted distilled
vinegar, and refrigerate it for another 24 hours. The vinegar
soaking further firms the flesh and softens the bones.
After 24 hours, remove the fish from the vinegar and pack it
loosely in clean, sterilized half-pint or pint jars with chopped
onion on the bottom and on the top. Cover with one of the
following pickling solutions.
Fillet the fish and remove the skin. Wash the fillets several
times with clean, cold water and drain. If the fillets are
thick—one inch or thicker—they should be sliced to pieces
about 1/2-inch thick.
FILLET CHUNKS
Use the process described above for pickled fillets. After the
fillets have been washed, cut each fillet into chunks about
11/2 to 2 inches in length.
A Note of Caution
Some people think that pickled fish can be preserved
for longer periods of time if they heat-process the jars
in a boiling water bath or use a pressure canner. But
boiling water bath or pressure canning of a high-acid and
high-sugar product like pickled fish will result in a caramelized, soft-textured and potentially bitter final product.
Heat-processing pickled fish is not recommended.
3. Pickling the Fish
Pickling Solution
(Treats 10 pounds of fish)
CHUNK STYLE
Chunk-style pickling should only be used with fish with
a small bone structure and thin skin—the so-called
soft-fleshed fish. Trout, salmon, catfish and similar fish
species are not suitable for making this type of product
because of their thick, tough skin and heavy bones.
To prepare the fish, remove the scales, head, fins and tail.
Wash the fish thoroughly in cold water to remove blood,
kidney and any visceral material that may remain on the fish
surface or in the belly cavity. Cut the cleaned fish into chunks
about 11/2 inches wide.
HOME PICKLING OF FISH
1/4 oz bay leaves
2 tablespoons allspice
2 tablespoons mustard seed
1 tablespoons whole cloves
1 tablespoons pepper
1-2 tablespoons hot, ground dried pepper
1/2 lb sliced onion
2 quarts distilled vinegar
5 cups water.
Combine all ingredients in a large kettle, and bring to a
boil. Add fish, and simmer for 10 minutes until fish is easily
pierced with a fork. Do not overcook. Remove fish from liquid
and place in single layer in shallow pan and refrigerate. Once
they have cooled, pack cold fish in clean glass jars. Add fresh
onion slices, lemon and bay leaves if desired. Strain the
vinegar solution, bring it to a boil and pour into jars to cover
fish. Seal immediately. Pickled fish must be stored in the
refrigerator and consumed within 6 weeks.
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Used with permission from the University of Minnesota
Extension. www1.extension.umn.edu/food/food-safety/
preserving/meat-fish/pickled-fish/
“Home Canning of Fish” by David Stuiber and Mary E.
Mennes. Wisconsin Sea Grant publication. Madison:
University of Wisconsin, updated 2014 by Suzanne Driessen.
Related Sea Grant Publications
“Home Smoking of Fish” by David Stuiber, Mary E. Mennes
and C. E. Johnson. Wisconsin Sea Grant publication.
Madison: University of Wisconsin, updated 2014 by Suzanne
Driessen.
Source
University of Minnesota Extension www1.extension.
umn.edu/food/food-safety/preserving/meat-fish/
pickled-fish/
“Home Freezing of Fish” by David A. Stuiber. Wisconsin Sea
Grant publication. Madison: University of Wisconsin, updated
2014 by Suzanne Driessen.
August 2014, WISCU-G-14-013. Originally authored by David A. Stuiber and Mary E. Mennes, Department of Food Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
HOME PICKLING OF FISH
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